Category Archives: Richard Sibbes

“The chains of His loving promises” by Richard Sibbes

“It must be matter of instruction for us all, that when we come unto God we must promise ourselves to have good speed, since God is most true of his promises, and we must labour by all means to remember and apply them, and so to turn them into prayers.

Thus reasoning the matter, What! I am in this and this necessity, God he hath promised to help; since He is true, it must needs be that He will have a care to fulfill His truth.

O beloved, it is easy for us to speak, but in the evil day to put on our armour, to fly unto prayer, to hang upon God, to fight against temptations, to give unto God the praise of His attributes, that as He is true, loving, just, merciful, all-sufficiency, infinite, omnipotent, so to expect infinite love, infinite truth, infinite mercy from Him,—this is no small matter, yea, it is true Christian fortitude, in temptation and affliction thus to reason the matter, to rely upon God, and as it were to bind His help near unto us with the chains of His loving promises.

If a promise bind us, much more it bindeth God; for all our truth is but a small spark of that ocean of truth in Him.

And therefore to conclude all with this promise, worthy to be engraven in everlasting remembrance upon the palms of our hands, God hath promised that all the afflictions of His children they shall work for the best (Rom. 8:28).

This is as true as God’s truth, I shall one day see and confess so much if I wait in patience; why, therefore, I will wait.

God is infinite in wisdom and power, to bring light out of darkness; so also He is true, and He will do it.

Therefore because I believe ‘I will not make haste;’ I will walk in the perfect way until he show deliverance.

This must be our resolution, and then it shall be unto us according to our faith; which God, for His Christ’s sake, grant unto us all!”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Matchless Mercy,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 7 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 164.

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“It is a marvellous matter of wonder” by Richard Sibbes

“Regard what wondrous fruit we have by the service of Christ: the work of our redemption, to be translated from the kingdom of Satan to the glorious liberty of the sons of God, to be brought out of darkness into marvellous light.

It is a marvellous matter of wonder, the good we have by this abasement of Christ.

‘Behold what love the Father hath shewed us, that we should be called the sons of God!’ (1 John 3:1)

Now, all this comes from Christ’s being a servant.

Our liberty comes from His service and slavery, our life from His death, our adoption and sonship and all comes from His abasement.

Therefore it is a matter of wonderment for the great things we have by it. O the depth, O the depth, saith St Paul. (Rom. 11:33)

Here are all dimensions in this excellent work that Christ hath wrought by His abasement, by His incarnation, and taking upon Him the form of a servant, and dying for us; here is the height and breadth, and length and depth of the love of God in Christ.

O the riches of God’s mercy!

The apostles stand in a wonder and admiration of this, and indeed, if anything is to be admired, it is Christ, that wondrous conjunction, the wondrous love that wrought it, and the wondrous fruit we have by it.”

–Richard Sibbes, “A Description of Christ,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 7.

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“The dear love of my Savior” by Richard Sibbes

“Oh, what should water my heart, and make it melt in obedience unto my God, but the assurance and knowledge of the virtue of this most precious blood of my Redeemer, applied to my sick soul, in the full and free remission of all my sins, and appeasing the justice of God?

What should bow and break my rebellious hard heart and soften it, but the apprehension of that dear love of my Savior, who hath loved me before I loved Him, and now hath blotted out that hand-writing that was against me?

What should enable my weak knees, hold up my weary hands, strengthen my fainting and feebled spirit in constant obedience against so many crosses and afflictions, temptations and impediments, which would stop up my way, but the hope of this precious calling unto glory and virtue?”

–Richard Sibbes, “A Glimpse of Glory,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 7 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 7: 495.

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“His riches are ours” by Richard Sibbes

“Christ is a Son; the Spirit tells us we are sons.

Christ is an heir; the Spirit tells us we are heirs with Christ.

Christ is the king of heaven and earth; the Spirit tells us that we are kings, that His riches are ours.

Thus we have ‘grace for grace,’ (John 1:16) both favor and grace in us, and privileges issuing from grace, we have all as they are in Christ.

Even as in the first Adam we receive of his emptiness, curse for curse, ill for ill; for his blindness and rebellion we are answerable; we are born as he was after his fall: so in the second Adam, by His Spirit, we receive grace for grace.”

–Richard Sibbes, “A Description of Christ,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 19.

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“He requires no more than He gives” by Richard Sibbes

“A weak hand may receive a rich jewel. A few grapes will show that the plant is a vine, and not a thorn.

It is one thing to be deficient in grace, and another thing to lack grace altogether.

God knows we have nothing of ourselves, therefore in the covenant of grace He requires no more than He gives, but gives what He requires, and accepts what He gives.

What is the gospel itself but a merciful moderation, in which Christ’s obedience is esteemed ours, and our sins laid upon Him, wherein God, from being a judge, becomes our Father, pardoning our sins and accepting our obedience, though feeble and blemished!

We are now brought to heaven under the covenant of grace by a way of love and mercy.”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 58.

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“Preaching is the chariot that carries Christ up and down the world” by Richard Sibbes

“Christ must be ‘preached.’ (1 Timothy 3:16)

Preaching is the chariot that carries Christ up and down the world.

Christ doth not profit but as He is preached.

For supernatural benefits, if they be not discovered, they are lost; as we say of jewels, if they be not discovered, what is the glory of them?

Therefore there must be a discovery by preaching, which is the ordinance of God for that end.

Whereupon God stirred up the apostles before, that were the main converters of the world.

They had some prerogatives above all other preachers.

They had an immediate calling, extraordinary gifts, and a general commission. In them was established a ministry to the end of the world.

‘Christ, when He ascended on high and led captivity captive’ —He would give no mean gift then, when He was to ascend triumphantly to heaven— the greatest gift He could give was, ‘some to be prophets, some apostles, some teachers, for the building up of the body of Christ, till we all meet a perfect man in Christ.’ (Ephesians 4:11-13)

‘I will send them pastors according to my own heart,’ saith God (Jeremiah 3:15).

It is a gift of all gifts, the ordinance of preaching.

God esteems it so, Christ esteems it so, and so should we esteem it.”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Fountain Open,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 5 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1638/2001), 5: 508-509.

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“Wonderful sweetness of pity and love” by Richard Sibbes

“God hath laid up all grace and comfort in Christ for us, and planted a wonderful sweetness of pity and love in His heart towards us.

As God His Father hath fitted Him with a body, (Heb. 10:5), so He hath fitted Him with a heart to be a merciful Redeemer.”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 38.

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“The infinite goodness of God” by Richard Sibbes

“In all storms there is sea room enough in the infinite goodness of God for faith to be carried with full sail.”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Soul’s Conflict,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 126.

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“We are weak, but we are His” by Richard Sibbes

“We are weak, but we are His.”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 71.

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“In Christ all perfections of mercy and love meet” by Richard Sibbes

“If the sweetness of all flowers were in one, how sweet must that flower be?

In Christ all perfections of mercy and love meet.

How great then must that mercy be that lodges in so gracious a heart?

Whatever tenderness is scattered in husband, father, brother, head, all is but a beam from Him, it is in Him in the most eminent manner.

We are weak, but we are His.”

–Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1630/2021), 69.

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